132 
ORDER BIMANA.— GENUS HOMO. 
Russian Empire, though ultimately subdued by its power. In this 
subdivision we may place those Ancient Scythians, who at a remote 
period made irruptions into Upper Asia; and the Parthians, who 
subverted the Asiatic dominion of the Greeks and Romans. Owing 
to the conquests of the Mongolians, numerous alliances have been 
contracted with that race, and many evident traces of Mongolian 
blood may be recognised, especially among the inhabitants of Lesser 
Tarfary. 
1. OmirANiccrs. — O ttoman- Turks. 
Si/n. Les Turcs, — C uv. Reg. Anira. I. 8-2. 
Race TuaauK (in part). — Desmoul. Tab. 
/con. Blumenb. Dec. Cran. I. t. 2 (Skull of a Turk). 
The origin of that tribe of Scythians, who, in modern times, have ob- 
tained so much celebrity under Othman and his successors, is involved 
in considerable obscurity. From time immemorial they appear to have 
wandered in the plains near the .Southern bank of the Oxus, until the 
feebleness of their neighbours induced them to desolate with their in- 
roads the fertile territories of Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt.' 
Their lamruage bears at the present day no inconsiderable affinity to the 
dialects of Tartary, though rni-ted with many Persian and Arabic words, 
derived from an intercourse with the nations whom their valour had 
subdued. 
Possessed of a noble but harsh physiognomy, the features of the Otto- 
man Turks nearly approximate to those of a European. Being rather 
tall, robust, and well-made, with tawny complexions, and black or dark- 
brown hair, it is with some difficulty that we can trace any resemblance 
to those Mongolian races, with whom their own historians, and some 
other continental writers, would confound them. A large and flowing 
dress, thick rolls of turban upon the head, and long mustachios, im- 
part an imposing aspect to a deportment of no ordinary gravity." 
Polygamy forms the luxury of the wealthy, but the poorer Mussulman is 
glad to escape from the trouble and extravagance of an extensive Haram. 
Indolent, proud, and ignorant, the Turks are averse to business, and 
passionately dev-oted to the immoderate use of coffee, opitim, ami to- 
bacco. Their customs and manners, their religious bigotry, the feeble- 
ness of their political institutions, and the steadiness with which they 
have opposed all attempts to improve their condition, mark them out as 
Scythians in the strictest sense of the term. 
2. Finnicus. — Finns. 
St/n. Rack Finnoise. — Malte-Brun, Geog. Univ. — Desmoul. Tab. 
The Finnic or Tchoude nations, surrounded by races of different 
extraction, may be recognised by their language, customs, and physiog- 
nomy. The Finlanders, Biarmians, Ehstes, Livonians, Wotiaks, Wo- 
guls, Tchouvashes, Tcheremisses, and Ostiaks, tribes of the Russian 
Empire; the Magyars, Ougres, Ungres, or Hungarians, who form a 
large portion of the population of modern Hungary ; and the Laplanders, 
mav be included with propriety in this subdivision. 
The Finnic races, widely dispersed throughout the provinces of Russia, 
are marked by a sallow complexion, prominent cheek bones, red or yel- 
low hair, a large occipital region, and scanty beard. In the Russian lan- 
guage they are termed Tchoudes. which signifies strangers. A few relics 
of the mythology and history of these obscure nations are preserved in 
the Saga” of Saint Olaf, and in some Scandinavian and Russian monu- 
ments. 
The Finns are possessed of a literature and mythology peculiar to them- 
selves. The Finnic language is understood by their neighbours the 
Ehstes or Esthonians, who still retain under all the degradation of slavery 
the yellow hair and other characteristic features of their race. Their 
poetry is metrical and full of alliteration. The Wotiaks are a weak and 
I ugly race, mostly with red or yellow hair and scanty beard. The religi- 
ous notions of these tribes are peculiar ; and the wicked, after death, are 
placed for ever in cauldrons of burning pitch, while the Tchouvashes 
chance them into skeletons, which roam eternally in a frozen desert. The 
Ostiaks pay a peculiar veneration to the Great Bear, and swear allegi- 
ance to every new Russian Czar upon a skin of that animal, or upon an 
axe with which a bear has been killed. 
The Huims or Magyars, though of Finnic origin, are connected with 
those tribes of Tartars, who, under the name of Turks, devastated Europe 
during the middle ages. The Hungarian peasant in general is of a robust 
and energetic constitution, but of moderate stature, and still retains many 
of his Tartar habits. The modern traveller may recognise in his pecu- 
liar costume many points of resemblance to that of most nomadic Scy- 
thians of Central Asia. 
The remarkable affinity of the Hungarian language to that of the Lap- 
landers led Sainovicz to consider them as identical ;3 and M. Klaproth 
has proved the intimate relation of the former to that of the Ostiaks.* * 
The Laplanders belong unquestionably to the Finnic or Tchoude race. 
They are of small stature, with dark brown complexion, black hair, high 
cheek bones, broad face, and pointed chins. The men are thickly set 
and active, their beards scanty ; the women are robust, and produce with 
slight inconvenience. Naturally of a roaming disposition, the Laplanders 
reside in tents made of cloth or the skin of the Rein-deer j and seldom 
remain for any considerable time in the same locality'. From time im- 
memorial they have been maintained by numerous herds of Rein-deer, 
which almost compose their entire means of sustenance. Polytheism, 
wherein every object in Nature is changed into a Deity, and a universal 
idolatry, in which the elements are typified, form the bases of their reli- 
gious opinions. Their superstition is extreme, and many tribes, who 
even profess Christianity, still preserve their ancient idols, their magical 
drums, and certain knots with which they allay the frequent storms of 
those desolate regions. 
3. Tartarus — Tartars. 
Syn. Les Peoples Tartares. — Cuv. Reg Anitn. I. 82. 
Race Torque (in part). — Desmoul. Tab. 
Icon. Blumenb. Dec. Cran. II. t, 12. (Skull of a Tartar of Kasan.) 
The Tartar, Tatar, or Turkish nations of Central Asia, who are pro- 
b.ihly identical with the Asiatic Scythians of the Ancient Greeks, must 
be carefully distinguished from the Mongolians. Their European cast of 
countenance, though tending slightly towards a yellow, their long beards, 
curly hair, and slender figures, mark them out as belonging to the White 
races. The Moor is not more different from the Negro, than the real 
Tartar from the genuine Mongolian. 
The pastoral life has been in all ages the favorite mode of existense 
of the Tartar races, who roam undisturbed, over the extensive plains 
between the Beloor mountains, and the basins of Lake Aral and the 
Caspian Seas. With extensive herds of cattle, with a numerous body 
of horse, which the Tartar can manage with skill, and those habits of 
continual motion which are essential to the practice of successful w'ar, 
the tribes of the Scythians have always been prepared to advance upon 
unknown countries, wherever they expected to find a powerless enemy 
or a plentiful subsistence. Led by their Khans, the Tartars are well 
known at various periods of history as having acted an important part in 
several mixed emigrations of Tartar and Mongolian nations. On these 
occasions, both were included under one common appellation, and they 
may be recognised at one period as the Euthalites, Ncphthalites, or White 
Hiinns ; at another, as the Turks of Tr.ansoxiana ; again as the Hunns 
of Attila ; as the Abates in the sixth century ; and finally, under Chingis 
Khan and Timoorlane they assisted in devastating Persia, India, and 
Western Asia, for more than two centuries ; while the most fertile coun- 
tries of Europe have been struck with terror at the approach of these 
martial shepherds." 
Their invincible courage, overwhelming numbers, and rapid conquests, 
have given a military aspect to the pastoral mode of life, which our poets 
are in the habit of adorning with the attributes of peace and innocence. 
The flocks and herds which accompany the Tartar during hi.= inroads 
supply him with milk and flesh, and he feeds indiscriminately on animals 
which have died by accident or disease. Horse-flesh is particularly 
esteemed as an article of food, hut the animals themselves are in general 
too valuable to be used for this purpose except on an emergency. The 
ignorance of these nations is extreme, and it is seldom that even a Tartar 
Khan can either read or write. 
At the conclusion of this enumeration of the Caucasian races, but without referring them to any particular section, we shall place the Zigeunes, Zm- 
"ani Tchineanes, Atchingans or Gypsies, who appear to have wandered from time immemorial in most parts of Europe, but especially in Turkey, 
' Von Hammer, Geschichte des Osmanischon Reiches, Ih Band. , „ , ^ 
* Lady Marv Jlontague’a Letters, Volney s Voyage en Syne, Olivier s Voyages, and Malte-Brun, Geog. Univ. 
a Sainovicz, 'Domonstratio Idioma Hungarorura ct Laponum idem esse, Copenhagen, 1770. 
5 GiXn '’(btXne^'amf fIu of the Roman Empire, chap. 26, 34, and 64) describes with elegance and fidelity the manners of the pastoral nations, the conquests of Attd* 
his Hunns, and the devastations of the united bands of Mongolians and Tartars in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
